Posts by Centaurian

Well, I can certainly understand the frustration players feel about the balky user interface, and the huge Dill costs of most everything worthwhile in the game, and how they might feel entitled to some small compensation for those issues. For what it's worth, the exploit was not as easy as it looked; I was only able to get this to work about half the time. I did notice other players using the exploit right next to me; I never thought to watch for this before I learned of it, so there's no telling how long it has been in use.

EDIT: As of 2-25-14, the "double dill" bug had still not been changed, so apparently Cryptic does not see it as a high priority fix, as they did for the "bonus Dyson marks" bug.

On the STO forums, a player posted a YouTube video link yesterday, showinghow to do a mining exploit to double your yield at the Vlugta mines. He was promptly denouonced by the admin's, who not only redacted his message, but also urged him to withdraw the video. I was fortunate enough to have seen the video in the few hours it was up, so I can describe the basic apporach, but I'm sure the exploit will be removed once Cryptic does the Monday maintenance after the Bonus Marks Event this weekend.

The gist of the exploit is this: in every mining zone (white map circles), if you pick an outcrop of crystals that is in line with another outcrop in the same field AND a nav marker (the flashing posts you can fly to), then you can mine both outcrops before you leave the zone, and get credit for both the Dill & minerals. You just run the minigame, and before you "take ore", click on the nav beacon in the distance, and move toward it. On the way to the nav beacon, as you pass the next outcrop, the "mine rocks" window will pop up again (while the "take ore" window is still open). Mouse click on "mine rocks", and as the mini-game loads again, you can "take ore", and run the minigame again. DO NOT use the "f" key, as this will only activate the first open interaction window ("take ore"). The "take items" window for the minerals will not appear in this case until after the second minigame, but you will get double the bonus when it finally does. In some cases, you will need to slide the minigame window out of the way to see the nav beacons.

This also works if you have a mining claim in the rich mining area, so you can yield 10k dill instead of 5k, even without an event; you can yield 2k instead of 1k in the normal fields. Apparently, it does not work in the fleet mines. If anyone is going to try this "bug", you'll have to do it before Monday...

Quote

It is fun to read you're old posts to see what a Noob we were at one time and see how much progress we have made

Sometimes embarrassing, too! The first time I saw someone post "rofl", I thought it meant "rock on, FreeLancer"...d'oh!

It's here, starting 10am, PST, tomorrrow morning; here's the post from STO Forum:

Starting tomorrow, Thursday, February 6th at 10AM PST, we are running a special weekend event where you can earn bonus Dilithium Ore by playing content throughout the game! This event runs until Monday, February 10, 2014 at 10AM PST.

During the event, bonus Dilithium Ore will be provided for the following content:

Vlugta Asteroid Field:
100% Bonus Dilithium Ore for Daily Mining Missions
100% Bonus to all Rich Dilithium Claims
Fleet Dilithium Mine:
100% Bonus Dilithium Ore for Daily Mining Missions
Everywhere else in the game: (including turning in Marks/Neural Processors/Cybernetic Implants, etc.)
50% Bonus Dilithium Ore

We hope you enjoy this special event and we’ll see you in-game!

Time to crack open a few lock boxes for those mining claims: BTW, I read a post that surveyed box contents, and it seems that Dominion, Voth, Cardassian and Hirogen boxes have the highest percentage chance of getting a claim pack... This is an excellent chance for newer Fleet members to get some extra resources toward those Fleet promotions!

Since my alt's are all engineers, DPS has not been my primary focus, either; I rather focus on the overall packeage for survivability. I appear to be doing some things right, since the last Breach mission with Marauder I was never really in danger of getting killed (unlike the first time through). Even the whole exercise with the new Dyson mission & ships points out that DPS is not all it takes to win. The Science destroyer was a bit underpowered, but it had very good debuffs and heals to avoid hull breach.

My main challenge ATM is to learn how to use the Engineer functions to help heal the team, instead of just trying to cover my own a**!

As I continue to get more familiar with the broad scope of the game, I finally discovered a quick way to make EC, apart from the Ker'rat Battle Zone: the "Tour the Universe" mission. I had barely noticed it earlier, and assumed it required some long chain of system explorations, but you merely race across the different faction sectors, to see how efficiently you can make the trip. In 15 minutes (the mission clock), you stand to make >250k EC, plus Exp. points for both exploration & trade. I think you may have to start the mission the first time from the "race" NPC at the faction HQ, but for sure it is available after that from anywhere. So ideally, you take your ship to the corner of a dead-end sector, initiate the race, and work your way thru as many sectors as possible. Hitting all the sectors in an area consecutively gives you a 25-30k bonus.

I have spent a lot of my EC on fleet projects, and never got more than about 400k EC together @ once, but just this one mission can yield >1 mill EC/week; this is especially good for players early in their careers, who don't have the chops yet to handle a Borg zone solo...

Actually, I did the "Step Between Stars" mission this morning, and it was more fun than I expected. Even if you don't want to grind the "free" ship through the Academy dailies, the mission itself yields your choice of one of three level-matched Dyson ship components, and a "basic" Dyson EV suit. Also I got one of the new Hirogen lock boxes (I suspect this is the container for the new Hirogen battle cruiser - haven't opened it yet). As an added incentive, the dev's have you flying the faction-specific Science Destroyer in the last half of the mission! It appears to be fully loaded with the gear they have planned for it, so survival of the mission is never really in doubt, though my lvl 35 Romulan captain might have dumbed down the mission a bit. Got to hurry up and get her to lvl 50 before the event is over to get higher-lvl components on the replay...

For those who hammered away at the Winter event for fun & prizes, Cryptic/PWE have created another event apparently based on the Winter Event template. Here's some of what you have to look forward to:

1000 "Q'mendations" = faction-specific Solanae Science Destroyer, with warp core, secondary deflector and impulse engine. 400 of the 1000 required come from the "Step between the Stars" mission, with VO work by Tim Russ (Tuvok). Remaining Q points needed for the 1000 ship prize are earned in an adventure zone with a daily mission (40 Q's each).

Once the ship is earned, repeat the Tuvok mission again (daily) for additional components of the Solanae set, apparently including a unique console, etc.
Accomplishing all 3 of the major playable options in the mission allow for a set of Solanae environmental suits for EVA.

Apparently, the Solanae ship will also be offered in the C-Store in late February, but it will be merely a shell to hold additional pieces of the full 8-9 pc. Solanae set; these later ones will only be available on the C-Store. Also, the 3-EVA-suit ensemble will be upgradeable, by trading the set in to the Lobi store, and paying an additional 50 Lobi for each of the 2 upgrades.

There will also be some additional lesser prizes and activities, but the Solanae ship set and EVA suits appear to be the big ticket items. Here is a link to the YouTube video explaing what a huge grind PWE has designed: 4th Anniversary Event

Have fun, but remember, you don't work for Cryptic or PWE!!

According to the PWE/STO forums, there will be a weekend "event" (like the hourly events during the week) that will double the yield on Dill mining. Last I checked, there was some ambiguity as to whether that was this weekend, or next (starting Feb. 7). Supposedly, this will also double the mining claim yield, which is normally 5000 dill, if you "crit" the mission. Also unclear if this applies to daily dill mission bonuses; either way, a good chance to make mining worthwhile.

Historically, gunners have had the advantage in PvP on the server, but all the top guns use strafing in conjunction with engine kill (momentum with 0 thrust). The "K" button is usually mapped to this function, so at top thrust speed, you cut engines, retaining unidirectional momentum, while using "mouse flight" to rotate your ship for shooting. You won't do very well in PvP without mastering this manoever...

Welcome aboard; plenty of room to stretch your wings here...

Eye candy! Begins to look more like the ST canon ships' interiors...

As I finished my last-minute mining run before work this morning, I dropped down the Fleet menu to see where I could make contributions to Fleet assets, and we had dropped to Tier 0 on all holdings!! Somebody please tell me I just happened to catch the menu during a system update...

Just a few quick observations from the top of the thread:

1. When I first joined the community, and got the feel for the CF universe, I realized that traders & smugglers are naturally at the bottom of the food chain. I didn't particularly like my vulnerability in that sense, so I started my own clan, to build a haven for the smuggler RP, and bring some balance to the economy.

2. I have found that the majority of new players (with notable exceptions) tend to keep to themselves, even if experienced players attempt to engage them in character-building activities like contract jobs. If you are a new player, and a more experienced player or clan member offers you a job for profit, at least acknowledge the communication!

3. On the flip side of that, clan members could be more proactive in reaching out to the newer players to help them get acclimated to the challenge of the CF universe. Events are not going to meet that need, only cooperative effort will actually provide enough time for the new player to "get" some of the nuances of Freelancer success.

CF is definitely worth the time required to learn the social environment, and whatever role you choose, it is as challenging as any in the Freelancer community...

I have compiled OP's posts on Dilithium mining and EC production in the attached text file, for everyone's printing convenience...definitely worth having at hand!

I spent some more time working with the Fleet page, and discovered that it's really easier than I thought:

Donate EC's, commodities, Dilithium, or DOff's, and the system rewards you with more Fleet credits. Then you can take those fleet credits and buy more DOff's, which yield still more Fleet credits when donated. Of course, this is not a completely self-perpetuating cycle, since a generic DOff costs 500 FC, and you only get back 250-300 FC when you donate them. Still, it becomes possible to accelerate the Fleet project completion even with a low rank. I was also happy to discover that you can buy Uncommon or Rare DOff's at Fleet starbase, if you have enough FC's. Putting these on your ship (active) or on DOff missions (reserve) can also accelerate other money-making activities.

Now I just need to fix my uniform...

Since the most valuable currency for Phoenix Legion is Fleet Credits, what is the best way to acquire those? AFAIK, the majority I got from a couple of co-op missions with other Fleet officers; otherwise, I just grind out a few with the "Officer of the Day" assignments at the starbase. As much as I would like to advance my Fleet rank, I would just as soon contribute to finishing the base/spire facilities first.

I'll do the same, now that I have a KDF char: Alphal'Fa@centaurianalpha

Maybe next winter (when my char's are getting a little bored) I'll spend more effort on the special prizes. For now, I just turn all Q's party favors into GPL...

Many thanks to Marauder for the fleet invite last night! My mind is blown with what the Phoenix Legion has already built; kudos to all hands!! I thouoght at first that the Fleet Starbase had an actual location in the galaxy map, but it doesn't appear so; either way, now I know where to go for the monthly briefing. I had no idea that a fleet would be a near-duplicate to StarFleet itself, with projects, missions, accolades and all. Looks like Rex & others have really packed out the Fleet Bank; this will save condiderable time working up those research experience points, ship upgrades, crew training, everything.

I expect I'll want to create a KDF character before I think about "buying" a Gold member ship for the standard packages (for 1 month, at least). Does the Legion also have a Romulan wing?